Historical Aces Questions

[Varibraun]

Hi @PatrickAWlson - I really enjoy having the WWI historical aces, but I am now starting to wonder about the WWII guys based on the way I like to play PWCG.  I know this sounds ungrateful for all the work many have put into getting them into the WWII campaigns, but the selfish reason is that my personal campaign Iron Man pilots can't compete with them, especially as the war goes along and the LW takes over the leader board (amazing pilots and historically correct I know).  I like seeing my guys climb the leader board with the A/I generated aces.  This is not a problem with the FC Historical Aces who have victory numbers that I can still possibly reach playing Iron Man.

 

So with that in mind, here are a few questions:

 

1.  I know historical aces are protected from Out of Mission attrition, but do they get any special protections from death, capture or serious injury in-mission?  (It could probably be arranged that they don't return from a mission - Bader/Casson story ?).

2.  I know I can delete them from the Aces folders BEFORE generating a campaign, but will this cause any problems in the campaign?

3.  If not, what will happen if I delete them from the aces folder AFTER a campaign is underway?    

 

Thank you!

[PatrickAWlson]

1. You can kill them or get them killed.  They can also score non historical victories when they are included in a mission.  

2. Actually deleting the file from the aces folder could be problematic and is not recommended.  

Easiest thing to do is kill them in your campaign.  The files in the aces folder are a template.  Because an ace can take a non historic path it is necessary to maintain a campaign specific instance of every ace.  The ace files serve as a template for their historical accomplishments.  If the ace is dead then that arc is terminated.  What you have to do is edit them inside your campaign, then they will be dead, and they will no longer score.  Pilot status = -6 is dead. 

3. I think that is what I was suggesting in #2 - but you can't just delete the file.  You have to edit the file to kill off the ace.

 

The aces concept was developed for RoF. In WWI there were top aces from all nations.  In WWII the Germans will pretty much dominate that board before western or Russian aces even get going.  If you are specifically flying a German Bodenplatte career things are a bit more difficult.  Those aces have already been scoring.  

 

Some ideas on how the data could be sliced:

1. Offer a view by service.  That is what most real pilots were chasing - their own guys.

2. Offer a view that excludes historical aces.  That would give you what you want.

3. Offer a view of human only.  That would be good for guys playing coop who want to see human players scores.

 

I think data slicing is probably the way to go.  I have the information already.  It is just a matter of presentation.

 

[Varibraun]

Thank you for the quick response and thoughts about different leader boards down the line. 

 

Since it sounds like it isn't a good idea to generate a campaign with deleted ace files, I will have see if I can bring myself to "off" them with a -6 in their file (that would probably feel better than slamming 20mm rounds into their cockpit while flying on their wing).